With the big drop we just had I think my question is more relevant than ever.
Changing my opinion on Zhou after watching this manipulation...
I will not be using bitcoinica, and I have lost NO money, but I can see how this is hurting us..
+1 It's too early for the market. Or at least get rid of the high leverage options.
-1
All that happened was a few uberbulls got taught a lesson, and a few shorters got fucked as well on the rebound spike up. Saw the upspike coming when the * popped up on the sell side down at 5.2.
We now have a higher portion of traders who are capable of not overleveraging themselves. This is good for bitcoin.
+0 I understand the point and I think it is good that people have the option to use Bitcoinica (after all, it's a free market right?). I also think people should be able to use drugs if they wish, but that doesn't mean that people using drugs is good for society. It's good to have the choice, but not necessarily good to exercise that choice to commit to action.
While I don't consider myself a pessimistic person (I actually am one of the greatest optimists you can find), I do not trust the Bitcoin community in general to be careful with a Pandora's Box like Bitcoinica. By careful, I mean responsible -- I don't trust that the majority of people are aware of the potential impact that their individual actions can have on the entire market.
My main problem is that it aids in pure speculation. Bitcoin is treated by most as a gambling opportunity first and an evolved social development second. But, Bitcoin's intended purpose was to be an evolved social development first and a gambling opportunity, well, never (at least it isn't implied in the white paper).
Basically, I'm just saying that the motivation that drives many users into Bitcoin is antithetical to the intended purpose of Bitcoin. Of course, one could argue this by saying that it's in alignment with Bitcoin's intended purpose simply because Bitcoin is used. I think at a certain level this is true, but at a systemic level it is not. All systems require balance to achieve homeostasis, but Bitcoinica really fucks with the balance of systemic input and output. It's a threat to destabilization.